Automatic railroad block system.



P. J. SIMMBN. AUTOMATIC RAILROADA BLOCK SYSTEM. APPLIUATIQN FILED JUNI;a. 14901.

winner o eo UNITEn sTATns PATENT FFCE.

PAUL I. or BERKELEY, CALIFomnia.`

AUTOMATIC RAILROAD BLOCK SYSTEM. l

Application led June 3,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, PAUL J. SIMMEN, a citizenof the United States, residing at Berkeley, in the county1 of Alamedaand State-of California, have invented new and useful Improrements inAutomatic Railroad furthermore will apprise the engine-driver ormotorman whenever there is a defect in the cab circuit or in the linecirciiit.

Afurther object of this invention is to' provide a system of thischaracter especially7 adapted for a single'track railroad, in which,there is a set.` of signals for ingoing trains and another set .ofsignals for outgoing "trains, all of which signals arel normally atclear,l and whlch lare so arranged that a train passing in eitherdirection into a part of the-track between two sidings willi s lt at Ydanger all the signalsbetween said sid ngs for trains passing in theother direction.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of oneform of my improved block system. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of thecahcircuit of the system shown in Fig. 1. Fig-3 is a longitudinalsectional View of one of the solenoids and Fig. 4 yis a plan view ofthesame.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates a railroad track, adjacent to oneside of which are a series of groups of contact rails 2, 3, 4A,

. and 5.

V"the-cab, a's hereinafter described.

contact rail 2 of each group serves to notify lVhenever the enginearrives at one ofthesc contact rails, a circuit 4is closcdvin The firstthe engine-driver to be prepared to stop before he passes the nextcontact railf, and, consequently, the distance between these rails?. and3 is arranged to be the maximum distance in which any train can bestopped as quickly as possible from its maximum speed. These rails' 2and 3 of each group are connected by a wire 6, and. may therefore forelectrical purposes he considered as a continuous rail, although thesignal is first givenby the rail Q, and then repeated by fthecrailf.Theserails 2 and il might be made in a single continuous contact rail,but

Speeton o! Letter. Patent Paten/i ed` Nov. 2st, l 914.

1907. seran No. 377,062. f

this construction is avoided on account of expense.

.I n Fig. l. the signal: devices are shown in their normal condition andin this condition, a wire 7 leads from .the rail 3 to a contact point 8which is in contact with a contact changer 9 carried bythe core 10 ofsolenoids 11, 12. Conne :te(l\i'ith said contactchangcr 9 is a flexible,wire '13 which leads td a wire il and thence to ground at said groundbeing in this case rei'ircsented liv one of the rails of the track. Thercfore,v if the contact at 8, 9. is closed, the arrival of the engineboth at the rail Q and at thc rail 3. closes said circuit in the cab,and thereby assures the engine-driver that the lraclr .ahead of him isclear. The train then `proceedsuntil the engine arrives at the rail #lof the same group., the effect of'whieh is to close a"circuit asfollows: `by a wire 1.7 through .the front solenoid 11. of the adjacentpair of `solenoids 11, 1Q, then by a' wire 18 leading hack over the lineto the rear solenoid 12 of the pair of solenoids one block behind, andthen by wire 14 to ground at 15. The effect of this is toencrgize thefront solenoid l1 of the pair at the front end of the blockand the rearsolenoid 12 at the rear end thereof. thcrcl v attracting the core at thefront end of the block forward and retracting the core at the Lrear endof the block. Since this action takes place a each block station inturn. the coreI at each station is left in the advanced 1position as theengine leaves said station. and when thc engine arrives at the nextstation in advance said core is returned th itsnormal condition in whichthe contacts' Sfand 9 are closed. Thus. as the engine passes each blockstation, it separates the contacts S and 9 of the station immediatelybehind. which if closed would actuate the clear signal in the cab, so

yso

tact maker is formed with beveled edges 59, which in one of itspositions are adapted to enter between two pairs o't spring contactclips G0, (S1, which'are connected with the wires 7 and 13. The highresistance wire 45 represented diagraniniati'cally in Fig. 1 is nowshown in its proper position connecting the two binding posts 62 of thetwo spring contact clips. Located upon the top of the box at the otherend of the movement of its arm are the spring contact clips G3, 64,

which are connected the one with the wire 7 and the other with the wirel1 as illustrated diagraminatically in Fig.`1. These contact clips arealso connected b va high resistance wire G5.

In order to prevent the core and other parts from deteriorating underexposureto the weather the whole box containing these parts is tilledwith oil. The resistance of the coils will be'sutlicient to maintain theoil sii-tticicntly warm and ltluid' iny cold weather. 66 indicates thebinding posts for the two coils.

The advantages of the above construction are that the Acontacts arewiping contacts, which are self-cleaning: that the core when once movedis mechanically held in its positi-on to which it is so move( iintil'itis again moved by the energization of a coil; and that the mechanism iscompact and requires no attention, which'is a particular advantage onaccount of these devices being generally located at great distances froma central station. However, it ca'n be seen that access can rea dily behad for the purpose of inspection and repairs.

1. In combination with a train having a normally closed circuitwhichincludes an electromagnetic device provided with two separate andindependentlymovable masses ot magnetic material, one ott said massesadapted to be held in attracted position except when the device iswholly deenergized` and the other ot' said masses being'adapted to beheld in position onlv by the action of a stronger magnetic field throughsaid device than that needed toihold said first mentioned mass inattracted position, means for giving a special alarm when said firstmentioned .mass is released. said other mass serving as part of asignal, means in the path of the train at given points tor breaking saidnormally closed circuit and establishing a separate path to completesaid circuit in ease of safety conditions, and means for inserting aneXtra resistance in said circuit in case of danger conditions.

2. In combination with a train having a normally closed circuit, meanslactuated by the passage of the train past a given point torestablishing a separate path to complete saidl circuit in case otsafetvconditions. said means including a solenoid. having a double coiland a core operating in both coils and having a circuit controllingelement, means for inserting resistance in said path in case ot' dangerconditions. and means on the train inthe normally closed circuit torgiving a special alarm indication on the train in case said path iswholly intc-'iiiptcd.

In combination with a train having a relay, an armature for saidrelay,"adapted to beheld attracted except when said relay is whollydciincrgicd, means for giving4 a special alarm when said armature isreleased. a normally closed circuit on the train including saidrelay.m'cans in the path of the train for establishing a separate path tocomplete. said circuit in ease of safety conditions, means `for breakingthe circuit through said path,V and means including an extra resistancefor establishing a third path to complete said circuit in case of langerconditions.

4. Apparatus comprising tracl: sections. a normally closed'cab circuit,signaling means controlled' by said circuit. and cooperating{initial-circuit forming elements, some of which are substantialliv onthe track. said elements adapted to be placed in circuit with conductivepai'ts forming said cab circuit when the latter is opened and havingmeans to alter the amount of current flowing through said cab circuitand actuate said signaling means. means for changing the relativepositions of sonic of said elements with respect to each other t'orYiiiving the circuit conditions as a whole in accordance with thecondition ot a track section. said signaling means comprising adetective circuit indicating device. and means tor certitying thesetting ot' the danger signals for succeeding trains. substantiallv asdescribed. Apparatus comprising-track sections, a normally closed cabcircuit having ot necessity onlva single electrical contact to be closedord opened, signaling means controlled by said circuit. and cot'meratingpartial-circuit-forniing elements.1 sonic of which are substantially onthel track. said elements adapted to be placed in circuit withconductive parts forming said cab circuit when the latter is' opened andhaving means to alter the amount of current flowing through said cabcircuit and actuate said signalingmeans, means for changing the relativepositions of some of said elements with respect to each other forvarying the circuit conditions as a whole in accordance with thecondition ot .a 4track section, said signaling means comprising adefective circuit indicating device, and mea-nsfor certifying thesetting of the danger signals for succeeding: trains` substantiallyl asdescribed. i

G. The combination with a train having a normally closed circuit, ofmeans actuated by the passage of the train past a given point forestablishing a separate path to

